Albert and Michelle Delao, residents of San Jose, Calif. noticed some bizarre changes to their 2002 GMC Yukon after the couple hired a local Midas auto shop in to make a few repairs to the SUV.
"When you turn the wheel [there were] cracking noises." Michelle Delao said. "Squeaking noises."
The family would later discover that employees at their auto repair shop went to considerable lengths to hide serious damage that was done to the vehicle – more than $11,000 worth, according to repair estimates collected by the Delao family - when the vehicle fell from a lift.
According to the investigative report, the California Bureau of Automotive Repairs (BAR) was created to keep repair shops in line with state relations, but it may be this very same agency hiding critical information that protects disreputable shops from public scrutiny.
The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reviewed state data for the past three years and discovered that fewer than 3 percent of the complaints pertaining to auto repairs result in any kind of enforcement action. That’s because under state law the bureau has limited authority to issue penalties for violations.
"It just makes me feel that they're not doing their job," Albert Delao told NBC Bay Area.
The Delaos called Midas, who claimed nothing happened. That same day, a Midas technician confirmed that the vehicle had fallen from a lift.
"He said, ‘well, the rattling you hear, it is glass,’" Albert told NBC Bay Area.
The technician, Adam Wicklander, revealed that the eight-passenger SUV fell from a mechanical lift, crashing onto its side from several feet in the air. The lift pierced the bottom of the vehicle and shattered the front passenger window. Wicklander was able to provide photos of the incident. He claimed that after the crash, he and his coworkers were ordered by their district manager to fix the car as best they could, without telling the Delaos.
Bureau Chief Patrick Dorais explained to NBC Bay Area that current law only allows his agency to issue fines and citations to unlicensed repair shops, or to those that violate the state's smog check program. For all other violations, like deceptive repairs and fraudulent billing, investigators can only recommend cases go to court. However, those recommendations rarely occur since cases often require a chain of similar consumer complaints before investigators can proceed.
While BAR can’t penalize auto shops for most violations, the bureau’s mediation process nets consumers nearly $5 million each year in voluntary repairs and refunds. However, since citations are not issued for violations, those consumer complaints are kept secret from the public – even in cases where the state believes a repair shop took advantage of customers.
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